SUFS Information

The Step Up for Students (SUFS) scholarship is a State-funded educational savings account whereby you can more flexibly use your student’s education dollars in leu of a traditional public school. Currently the scholarship is worth about $7,500 annually.

Direct Pay Provider:

GradePower Learning is an approved direct-pay-provider for SUFS. Specifically though, we can only accept the FTCPEP, UA, and the New World’s Reading scholarships.

We CANNOT accept the FTCEO (Florida Tax Credit) scholarship without PEP. EO (Education Options) is only available to in-person private schools. A subset of EO scholarships were set aside by the Legislature to be used for homeschooling and non-traditional programs such as ours – that scholarship is called FTCPEP (Personalized Education Plan).

The UA (Unique Abilities) is a specific program for students with specific education needs. The New World’s Reading Scholarship is another specific program for students who preformed poorly on the previous year’s Reading FAST test, it’s a one-time $500 scholarship. If you think either of these may apply to you, please apply at: https://www.stepupforstudents.org/

Payments to your Team:

As the approved direct-pay-provider, you will need to transfer your quarterly SUFS distributions to us in full. We will deduct our fee from the transferred amount and pay the balance to your team’s program to pay their staffing, rent, and other fees associated with your student-athlete.

Income Based:

The Step Up for Students scholarship was historically an income-based scholarship, but the income requirements were sunset by the Legislature in 2022. It is true that “preference is given based on need” but the scholarship is also awarded first-come-first serve – if you can figure out the discrepancy there then please explain it to me. I joke, but honestly the reality is you’ll likely be approved as long as you are in the first 60k to apply for the program regardless of your income.

Florida Virtual School:

I get a lot of questions about FLVS and I want to explain how its funding works in relation to this scholarship.

FLVS is a public school district that, just like any public school, receives funding directly from the state. You MAY NOT double-dip your state funding, so you cannot go to a public school AND get your SUFS funding – similarly you cannot get a SUFS scholarship AND be a student in FLVS. Well, technically you can, but then you will need to pay FLVS using your SUFS scholarship dollars. FLVS charges your scholarship about $3,500 for the year.

Conversely, our program which has the same online modules, accreditation options, but also includes in-person tutoring at your facilities, costs just a fraction of that and we help offset your team’s costs as well. It’s truly a win-win for you and your student academically and financially.

How it Works:

First, follow these steps to apply: https://gradepowerlearning.us/how-to-apply-for-step-up-for-students-pep/

Eventually, your scholarship will show as “Approved (FTCPEP).” Then, in August you can expect your first tranche of funding. It is usually 1/4 of your annual approved amount. You will need to go into your SUFS EMA Marketplace and release the funds using these steps: https://gradepowerlearning.us/how-to-authorize-funds-in-sufs/

It takes a few weeks for us to actually receive the funds, but when we do we will deduct our costs and pay the team directly, informing you when we do and for how much.

Questions?

Email us at:

Phil Cottone: pcottone@gradepowerlearning.com

Andrew Learned: alearned@gradepowerlearning.com